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Journalism of Courage
Sam Altman is clearly having fun with OpenAI’s new image-generation tool, especially when it comes to Studio Ghibli-style pictures. First, he switched his X profile picture to an AI-generated Ghibli-style version of himself. Then, he shared a similar image featuring him and his newborn son. But in his latest creation, he’s fully decked out in Indian cricket gear.
The OpenAI CEO took to X to post an anime-style image of himself wearing a blue jersey with “India” emblazoned across the chest, striking a pose with a cricket bat in hand. He even revealed the exact prompt he used: “prompt: sam altman as a cricket player in anime style.”
This caught the attention of social media, especially in India. While many enjoyed the post, some couldn’t help but question his sudden interest in all things India. One user said, “Over the past few days, you’ve been praising India and Indian customers a lot! How did this sudden love for India come about? It feels like there’s some deep strategy going on behind the scenes.” Others were more blunt, with one commenting, “Bro leaning hard on India for those MAUs.” MAU, or Monthly Active Users, is a key metric that tech companies often highlight. A high MAU indicates strong user engagement, a wealth of data, and greater potential for monetisation.
This isn’t the first time Altman has engaged with Indian-themed content recently. A few days ago, he reposted an India Post’s Ghibli-style AI images. Before that, he reacted to AI-generated pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with an Indian flag emoji. He even went as far as to praise the country’s rapid AI adoption, declaring, “India is outpacing the world.” However, not everyone was convinced. Kunal Shah, founder of CRED, cut through the hype with a sharp remark: “India is the MAU farm of the world.”
Altman’s sudden enthusiasm for India coincides with OpenAI dealing with the overwhelming demand for its latest image-generation feature. Ever since GPT-4o introduced the ability to create AI-generated images—particularly in the beloved Studio Ghibli style—the Internet has gone wild. From profile pictures to wedding portraits, the craze has been so intense that OpenAI’s servers have struggled to keep up. Even Altman admitted their GPUs were “melting”.
A week later, the chaos hasn’t died down. OpenAI is still battling capacity issues, with delays and glitches frustrating users. On Tuesday, Altman warned people to expect slow performance as they work to stabilise the service. Clearly, demand has exceeded even OpenAI’s expectations, and they’re scrambling to keep up.
